[Question]What century are we in?

On December 11 2004 18:03 n00bsaibot wrote:
no, it probably has to do with when this country was actually founded. Counting centuries from that point instead of just 1800-1900-2000-2100. Although americas foundation shouldnt have any bearing on the death of christ.

On December 11 2004 17:48 gLyo wrote:
Why do they do that, Moltke?

On December 11 2004 18:19 Sky101 wrote:
BC = Before Contemporary.
AD = something, but definitely not After Death like some ignorant idiots like to think.

On December 11 2004 18:22 MoltkeWarding wrote:


Well such distinctions are necessarily arbitrary and ethnocentric. For example, if we look at the term "Contemporary history", the German term Zeitgeschichte refers to the period after 1914. For the French, contemporary history means the period after 1789.

Let's look at the major "epochs" in the histories of nations.

Germany:
1914-1989: Beginning of the Great War, the consequences of which were a Second World War, the partition of Germany and its reunification.
1870 (or 1867)-1914: Period in which Germany/Prussia dominated the Great Power system
1815-1914: Second Period of bipolar struggle between Austria and Prussia for domination of Germany
1701-1815: The rise of Prussia, the first period of bipolar struggle between Austria and Prussia, ending in the Napoleonic wars.

France:
1914-1989: Beginning of the Great war, etc etc etc.
1870-1914: The third republic
1815-1870: The Bourbon restoration, second republic and Napoleonic restoration
1789-1815: The revolutionary wars
1715-1789: Louis XV and XVI, decline of French power
1643-1715: Louis XIV, France became most important European power
1588-1643: The political unification of France under Henry of Navarre, ending when France replaced Spain as the most important European power

England:
1914-1989: Great war, etc
1815-1914: Century without wars
1689-1815: Century of struggle for world domination against France
1588-1689: Century of hostility against Spain, by the end of which France became England's principal enemy

Thus I think the delineation of 1914-1989 makes sense, for Europe and America. The "19th century" of 1815-1914 also to some extent makes sense for both Europe and America, since 1815 was the last war fought between America and a Great European Power (excluding the Spanish-American war)
Beyond that, it splits into national histories.

On December 11 2004 18:33 SpoR wrote:

yea but why does it end on 1989 what is so significant about that year?

On December 11 2004 18:47 Carnac wrote:
i actually don't agree with moltkewarding "redefining of centuries", for me centuries are just plain classification of well - centuries aka 100 years. so yes, we live in the 21th century. decade = 10 years, century = 100 years, it's as simple as that. moltke's stuff is more of an attempt to define some main chain of events through history, whatsoever

------
asking what happened in 1989 attests of utter ignorance and dumbness though. it's like not knowing when columbus came to america or not knowing the year of america's declaration of independance, or the year of the french revolution, not knowing when the second world war took place, or whatever main historical events EVERYONE should know.....

On December 11 2004 18:34 maleorderbride wrote:

Basically he thinks its the century marker because the Berlin wall came down. Which he somehow sees as the end of all "effects of the great war"

On December 11 2004 18:52 stinkfist21 wrote:
This is the 22nd century. Think about it, what century was it in the year 5? The first century. so 1900 to 2000 was the 21st century.

On December 11 2004 18:52 MoltkeWarding wrote:
As I said, there is a chronological century. When we speak of centuries in that sense we are speaking of a measure of time.

However, when we refer to centuries in the historical sense, what are we referring to?

When someone speaks of the 17th century, the thing that first pops into the minds is "Louix XIV."
Well, Louis XIV reigned 1643-1715. Do we consider for example Shakespeare as belonging to the 16th or 17th century? (In other words: is he Elizabethan or Stuart?) When historians refer to the centuries in a historical sense, they do not simply refer to the chronological markers, but to certain historical motifs. Of course, these motifs overlap, which is why I said at the beginning: we can only make such distinctions on an partially arbitrary basis.

On December 11 2004 19:02 Carnac wrote:


you're REALLY mentally challenged, are you not? since you obviously are not even capabale of properly counting till 21.

1-100 = 1st
101-200 = 2nd
201-300 = 3rd
301-400 = 4th
401-500 = 5th
501-600 = 6th
601-700 = 7th
701-800 = 8th
801-900 = 9th
901-1000 = 10th
1001-1100 = 11th
1101-1200 = 12th
1201-1300 = 13th
1301-1400 = 14th
1401-1500 = 15th
1501-1600 = 16th
1601-1700 = 17th
1701-1800 = 18th
1801-1900 = 19th
1901-2000 = 20th
2001-2100 = 21th BUT NOT FUCKING 22th

On December 11 2004 19:06 Hippopotamus wrote:
Why would any American need to know such insignificant things? All that matters is the Revolutionary War, the war of 1812, the Civil War, and WW1, WW2 oh and the Cuban Missle Crisis is saved for 12th grade Everything else is absolutely stupid, otherwise the great american system would teach it.

On December 11 2004 20:00 HowitZer wrote:
Where do you get off saying this utter bullshit? I doubt you have any basis for making these statements even if they are sarcastic. And also I think it's justified if Americans better know their own history than other countries.

On December 11 2004 18:04 SickofLife wrote:


That's where you're mistaken, sir.

By the way, the years have nothing to do with his death. A.D. is Latin for something (don't know how to spell it, but can say it) meaning the year of our Lord, or something like that. I think it's Anno Domini, but I'm not sure.

Yeah, I was right, that's how it's spelt, and what it means.

On December 11 2004 21:00 Carnac wrote:
<3 mrmin

On December 11 2004 18:22 MoltkeWarding wrote:
England:

1815-1914: Century without wars

On December 11 2004 18:34 Carnac wrote:
WHAT?
no offense, i hate ppl that bash the us, but this question could really ONLY come from an american...

tearing down of the berlin wall? end of the fucking cold war? what the hell do you learn at school?

[edit]this is of course directed to SpoR, not maleorderbride

On December 11 2004 18:47 Carnac wrote:
i actually don't agree with moltkewarding "redefining of centuries", for me centuries are just plain classification of well - centuries aka 100 years. so yes, we live in the 21th century. decade = 10 years, century = 100 years, it's as simple as that. moltke's stuff is more of an attempt to define some main chain of events through history, whatsoever

------
asking what happened in 1989 attests of utter ignorance and dumbness though. it's like not knowing when columbus came to america or not knowing the year of america's declaration of independance, or the year of the french revolution, not knowing when the second world war took place, or whatever main historical events EVERYONE should know.....

On December 11 2004 21:05 gg_hertzz wrote:


It's funny but people always ask me what day it is. Now, we're having to ask what century it is.

time for another education reform it seems.

On December 11 2004 21:52 SpoR wrote:

Sorry i was in kindergarten in 1989 and i dont give a fuck about european walls because european walls doent give a fuck about me.

On December 11 2004 23:50 Sharkey wrote:
Generally speaking the century their is one century, called the long century, that occured from 1789-1917. It is generally called the rise of the bourgious century, and the end of fuedalism. These ideas which formulate the thesis of the argument are purely western civilization thought. The next 'century' is from 1917-1989, it is called the short century because it is obviously not a 100 years. It is called the rise of the proletariet century. Of course these are just generalizations.

On December 11 2004 21:58 gg_hertzz wrote:


Easily the funniest thing I've read on TL.Net

Someone get this mean a Japanese Kogal.

On December 11 2004 21:54 SpoR wrote:
um most those things you stated have to do with america directly. Of course i know about those but the berlin wallis almost nothing to an average american.

On December 12 2004 03:00 Carnac wrote:

excuse me?
the tearing down of the berlin wall was the very initiation of the cold war's ending. and the cold war determined a large part of the u.s. foreign policy (and domestic policy to a certain degree) for almost half a century, while bringing the world to the brink of an atomic war. this would have nothing to do with an average american?
so i guess the statement i gave above in another post is more than true: u.s. history classes are way too u.s. centric, i pity you :/ this is so important, the knowledge of history is needed to really understand the present to its fullest. basically it's even contemporary history..., oh well, at least i hope i teached you something

On December 12 2004 03:20 Carnac wrote:
this is like saying "how am i supposed to know when the 2nd world war happened, since i wasn't even born at the time".
you really are a magnificent example of perfect stupidity and ignorance, it's people like you who make others bash americans. i hope your countrymen thank you for that.
it really relieves me to know that you are not part of a majority, at least in this forum for sure~

On December 12 2004 03:12 SpoR wrote:
Thanks For "teached" me that. I knew that shit already but i don't really care because as i said before i was a kindergargner when it happened and besides how am I supposed to know thats what the fucker meant when he said 1914-1989 was because the end of the cold war and the tearing down of the berlin wall. How do you even know thats what he meant by 1989 being the end?
PS this thread is stupid Close it already.

On December 12 2004 04:03 Carnac wrote:
wtf, how stupid are you?

if someone refers to 1789 as a historical year in theory you could name billions of things that happened back then, but guess to what everyone would refer to (YES YOU GOT IT, the french revolution). same for any year like 1776, 1914, 1945 or WHATEVER, and ALSO same for 1989. and in 1989 it would be the cold war's ending, which was initiated by the tearing down of the berlin war and the following german unification.
DO NOT FUCKING TELL ME that the end of the cold world war has not to concern you in any way. and ALSO do not fucking tell me that the cold war's end is not the main historical event in 1989. man, this is contemporary history.
get some fucking education, some fucking clue, or just shut the fuck up instead or better go kill yourself.

you probably don't even know US history at all

On December 11 2004 18:19 Sky101 wrote:
BC = Before Contemporary.
AD = something, but definitely not After Death like some ignorant idiots like to think.